Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Ranger X - The other Genesis Game Own

Well if its one thing I know most of cartridge based games (that I own) are known for is the sheer difficulty and something else memorable about it.

This game definitely hits all aspects. Difficult, fun, memorable.

Ranger X

I ended up with this game cause I was borrowing it while I let the guy borrow my DKC3 and Lethal Enforcers 2. I never got DKC3 or Lethal Enforcers 2 back. -_- He moved away. The ass.

Anyway I was left with this game. I have no idea what the story is about. And at first appearance it looked rather intimidating and boring to an extent. The demo stage shown didn't really show much of what you could do and the opening didn't make much sense. At the time.

So my first time Playing (decades ago) it I died so many times. Cause I was just a glutton for punishment and not watching for incoming attacks either. The first boss killed me many times. The 2nd level was far too intimidating for the average player. Enemies that you can barely see or hit and pits of acid that both tear through your health bar without a 2nd thought.

Later on coming back to this. I played through and beat it. Found it rather fun with all the special weapon choices I had to pick from.

Graphics

There's tons of things happening on screen. No slowdown whatsoever. If you're TV isn't crap you can see all the details. Designs definitely took pages from super robot anime to make this. If you're one of those only try for like 5 - 10 minutes and you look for graphics and level design as a priority. You'll probably turn the game off cause the first stage is just a straight and narrow path through a desert destroying whatever is in your way. If you're willing to go further you'll find that everything went into the later stages.

Controls

Takes some getting used to. Unlike most games you don't turn around just by simply pressing the opposite direction. You push either A or C to shoot in that direction. B is your special weapon.

Gameplay

If you go into this with the mindset of jumping and shooting you're gonna die. You're gonna need to put some thought into destroying your targets. Sometimes its special weapon choices. Other times its making use of the environment. In the 2nd stage you find that there's enemies that are not only small to hit and if they touch you, your health bar drops really fast. But if you notice on the ceiling there's areas where you can shine some light in and destroy these small pest.
Another stage where you have to use the stage layout to your advantage and not get spotted by the search lights. Or deal with enemies that are completely annoying.

The bosses don't fool around. If you stand around or your just not reacting fast enough. You're dead. You have to be unafraid and react properly to kill these guys.

The special weapons you can get are pretty destructive. You get a flamethrower, a bomb that travels on the ground till it hits something, a boomerang like weapon, that laser option weapon from Gradius, A plasma cannon that eats most enemy shots. And my absolute favorite the positron cannon. Yeah just try and survive this!

Music

The most memorable thing about this game. The music. I looked up the music for this game and find that you don't even get to hear all the tracks of this game. Even more so some of the tracks have a beat that doesn't pick up until much later. But they get used in stages for like 20 seconds before getting cut.

Stages

Stage 1: A typical desert. With enemies. I should talk about the thing that follows you. This is your best friend in the entire game. It moves fast, Shoots along with you. If you combine with it, it has its own health bar and gets auto targeting. The boss is definitely not one you just blindly shoot.

Stage 2: I get kinda annoyed here. There's floors filled with Acid and the only way to get through it undamaged is to stand on top of your car and carefully move forward. I do like how the small turrets have power lines and you can destroy them to make your life easier. I do hate these little guys though. Thankfully you can kill them by shinning a bit of light on them. The boss here comes out of nowhere. At first its not that bad when its on its last legs....lol....you think well if you're gonna stand there I'll just kill you and then BAM! Runs into you without a second thought.

Stage 3: If you were thinking this game doesn't have too many enemies...well is this enough enemies? I almost don't want to drop into the forest to kill these guys but I have to. The targets I have destroy are down there. Thankfully they changed out my 1 wheeled super fast friend with a flying one that shoots lasers of death on just about everything. Too bad it doesn't shoot bosses. -_- Now here's a completely different boss. See I thought it was just gonna be another robot. It kinda still is but I never expected to see this. You have to have no fear when it comes to dodging.

Stage 4: Now this is a fun level. Instead of going to the right you're going up. Way up!. This stage also houses my favorite special weapon of the game. I'll show it later. But getting it is not easy. To acquire this weapon you need to shoot out ever window until it appears. Don't worry its worth it. Now the boss. This is actually rather unique. You can't attack this boss with conventional means. It's weak spot is in such a small space that only 2 weapons can get through. And if you attack it this little pink will retaliate for hitting it. Now's the time so show off this new toy. The Positron Cannon. This weapon may eat up all my weapon energy but the damage and range it has makes up for it. I'm a fan of overpowered kill everything guns and this definitely qualifies.

Stage 5: Okay now to take things slow. If I touch these search lights I get attacked by enemies that are hard to hit. Quick going to my back side!!! Well on to the boss...this looks like something out of a side-scrolling shump game. Oh well POSITRON CANNON!!!

Stage 6: This is definitely difficult to get through. Areas that have lines of fire or electricity I have to pass through. Then eventually some ship starts shooting me from the background. Really have to keep my cool here and push onwards...I'm out of continues at this point as well...
Final boss....I'm free falling and this guy is shooting me I can't do another about it. Geez chill out. But that wasn't the final boss. This huge ugly thing is. Thankfully my special weapons refill way faster here. So 3 shots of the positron cannon and its dead.

That's it. The game's over. I save the world I guess and I get a girlfriend. And I have a giant robot. How could this day get any better